Choose, Natsu
by thedragneelfam
Summary: Natsu must make a choice between fire and water in order to save his destiny and himself. Kidnappings, runaways, discoveries of truth- they will all lead to Natsu's ultimate decision.
1. Prologue

_A small boy sleeps under the wings of a dragon, unaware of things around him._

 _The dragon called Igneel is quiet. The boy has a destiny of fire, of the great brightness in the heavens. But so far, the boy has not accepted it. The boy shies away from fire, thinking that it is his enemy._

 _How can he teach the young one that nothing can be an enemy? The reason the boy fears the fire is because fire is uncontrollable. Fire refuses to be a slave, and hungers for more power._

 _For the boy, he accepts water more. Water is the very thing that could destroy the boy. Igneel knows that the future holds tragedy if the boy turns towards water, instead of fire._

 _The boy is a natural swimmer, and he giggles when he extinguishes the flames of the dragon with his water. He loves creeks and lakes and rivers, and embraces the oceans of the world. He talks of fire as darkness and water as light, as if they cannot live in harmony together._

 _"Igneel?" the boy whispers._

 _Igneel lifts his wing and the boy crawls out._

 _"Show me a firework," the boy says._

 _The dragon feels warmth inside of him. There is hope for the boy. He has never asked to see fire before, and squirms even when it is thousands of miles away. He sits in the palm of his dragon's claw and watches in awe as a great ball flies into the sky._

 _"I'll do that one day," the boy promises. "And then you won't be sad anymore. And you won't keep trying to light my head on fire."_

 _The boy always makes Igneel laugh. And his promise makes the dragon pleased. Seven years later, the dragon will depart and the boy will have to learn on his own of the fire that is in his very blood._

 _And by then, he will know that fire is him and he is fire. Only then will he know his destiny ahead of him._


	2. The New Apartment

**Thank you, random person, for reading my story! Sending all my love your way now! :0) This is my first real story with real chapters. I wrote another short story collection, but that's something else :DD Now, I'll be switching POVs every chapter, but I won't tell you who is who ;0)! OH FINE, this one's Lucy's... but you can already guess! Okay, on with the story!**

* * *

"Wow. This... wow."

Lucy looked at the apartment in front of her, trying not to criticize it. It's the _exact_ opposite of what she expected from the home she left behind. Oh, well- as long as her father would disapprove, this apartment is her type! She shrugged on her bag and put a smile on her face. What kind of neighbors would be around?

Then she remembered that Magnolia was famous for its wizarding guild, Fairy Tail. What an interesting name! Lucy would have to check it out later. She had to admit, she'd been wanting to join Fairy Tail ever since...

The smile left her face. Her mother's death was still haunting her. One day, she'd come home and found the house covered in black. Her father was yelling to the servants, and she'd called for her mother. He'd slapped her then.

Lucy couldn't spend another minute in that house. Or should she call it a mansion? Compared to the other apartments, it was. But when she still lived there, it just felt like home.

"Okay, Lucy, go inside already! You finally got what you wanted! Isn't it?" She marched in, dimples back in town.

She hadn't realized how tiny her new place was. Oh, well. She was lucky to even find an apartment. Years of living on trains had taught her the most basic lesson of the heart- be thankful. "Good for you! One day, you can show Papa that you survived on your own!"

"Huh? Happy, someone's here!"

Lucy screamed. Something flew past her face, and she ducked back out the door. Heart racing, she ran without looking back and then...

Of all the days to get her only clothes wet, she fell into the lake. Lucy sighed and then screamed again as someone dove in after her. "Are you okay?" the someone asked.

"Uh... yeah, thanks. It's only three feet here, I mean, so it's not that deep. I've been in way deeper. Um, are _you_ okay? You were in my apartment... not that I'm ungrateful, I just..."

The stranger laughed. "You're cute!" Lucy looked at him, cheeks reddening. Strangers didn't say that to _strangers_. Although, she kind of thought he was cute in his own way. And what was up with his hair?

Oh, well. She'd sort out the details later. Right now, she had to find out why this pink haired man was in _her_ apartment, with a... flying cat?


	3. Luce

**YAY! I felt like writing two chapters in a day, just because I like seeing cute widdle Natsu in action. :0) I could write about him all day, *sigh*... don't worry, the fun stuff will come soon, heh. ;0)**

* * *

Ten minutes earlier, Natsu was sleeping in the kitchen.

And Happy was flying around, trying to wake him up. " _Natsu! The landlady said the girl was coming today_!" he hissed. But it was no use. Once Natsu started sleeping, the only way to wake him up was dump a bucket of water all over him.

And once you did that, you had a chance of having the entire house flood. Natsu was a fire mage, but he liked to be the opposite.

Finally, _finally_ , Natsu started to wake up. But Happy was too late. Somebody was outside talking to herself. Another weirdo? Happy sighed. He had enough of Natsu's laziness and poured three water bottles through his shirt.

"Woah! _Happy_! Come back here, dammit! My whole shirt is soaked through," Natsu complained. "And you _know_ this is my only shirt left!"

"I was trying for an hour to make you wake up!" Happy insisted. Natsu was denser than a sponge sometimes- no, all the time.

Then the girl walked in, humming. Natsu jumped up in the air and ran to her. "Huh? Happy, someone's here!"

"AIEEEE!" the girl screamed. That was everyone's reaction to Natsu, even Makarov's. And he was the master of the guild Natsu and Happy were in.

Happy heard a splash and wondered if the girl had fallen in the canal Natsu liked to swim in.

"I'll save you!" Natsu yelled, and threw himself in the water after her. Happy flew around in the air, wanting to smack Natsu. "Oh, you're cute!" The girl blushed and turned away.

"What are you doing here?" the girl said suspiciously. Again, another common reaction to Natsu. No wonder he had so little friends. The guild didn't count- they were _nakama_ , comrades and family.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Natsu shot back.

"That's _my_ apartment," the girl snapped. "And _you_ were in it."

"Oh, really? I don't remember seeing you around it at all," Natsu _harrumph_ ed. Happy wanted to drag him away- anywhere, as long as he wasn't embarassing them.

Happy couldn't keep quiet anymore. "It's _hers_ , Natsu! We were living in it temporarily, miss, because of the landlady. We have nowhere to go, and she let us stay out of the kindness in her heart. I think we overstayed our welcome. Sorry again, miss. Come _on_ , Natsu!"

The girl eyed them. "You have nowhere to go?" What was that look in her eyes?

"Yeah. I'm trying to find my dad, Igneel," Natsu offered. The girl nodded and then walked inside the apartment. Natsu trailed after her, Happy on his arm.

"Well, I'm staying here so my dad can't find _me_ ," the girl sighed. For a moment, she looked sadder than Happy when he lost his biggest fish.

"I'm sorry about that..." There was silence for a moment, and then Natsu grinned. "My name's Natsu! You are?"

"I'm Luce- AIEEEE!" Water flooded the apartment in 0.2 seconds. It was no competition trying to see who had done that _baka_ move.

Natsu sheepishly smiled, the girl- Luce?- fainted, and Happy felt like they had a lot of explaining to do. They'd do that right after Happy kicked Natsu all the way to the last star in the universe.


	4. A Guild?

Why did these kinds of things always happen to Lucy?

She had never asked for any of this. All she wanted to do was crawl into an apartment and write in her journal. Maybe once in a while, she'd check on her Spirits. Other than that, she needed _nothing_!

And then the flood happened. She had almost drowned until the pink haired man- Natsu- and his flying cat rescued her. Lucy had blacked out for most of the time and only came to in a guild hall.

Which wasn't good. Lucy recognized the guild hall in one second- Fairy Tail.

That was when she blacked out again.

* * *

"A _real_ man would never put a lady in danger!" someone crowed.

Lucy opened her eyes and then squeezed them shut. Why was there so many people standing above her? Oh, well. It was better to get this over with. She couldn't keep playing dead for the rest of her life.

Or could she? Maybe then she would be left alone.

"She's awake!" somebody else whispered. Too late.

Lucy sat up and rubbed her eyes. She was in some kind of infirmary. The _somebody else_ was a kind-looking white haired woman, and the first person who spoke was now poking Natsu in the shoulder. Great. More weirdos- just what she needed.

"I'm Mirajane, Lucy," the woman murmured, smiling.

Mirajane Strauss? She didn't look very powerful just sitting there. But she _was_ Lucy's favorite wizard, and she couldn't act like a _baka des_ in front of her. "Hi," Lucy answered, trying to sound happy. "I'm-"

Hm? How did Mirajane know her name? Was Lucy really _that_ popular that even Fairy Tail members knew her?

"I already told Mira your name," Natsu interrupted.

Oh, well. In the future she would become more well known. And it was kind of soothing to know she had her privacy.

"I'm _Elfman_! Because I am a man, I would've taken care of you!" the white haired man shouted. Natsu rolled his eyes.

"You get used to Elfman," Mirajane said, still smiling. "He's my younger brother."

"Oh, so _you're_ Lucy. Natsu wouldn't shut up talking about you, so I had to make him. I'm Gray." Lucy turned around and nearly jumped out of the bed. Yet another weirdo, this one _half naked_ , was talking to her.

"Um, hello..."

"A _real_ man wears clothes!" Elfman grunted, and promptly left the room. _Whew_. Lucy could almost feel the infirmary get back half its size.

Then Natsu stood up. "Okay, Lucy! Are you gonna?"

"Gonna what?" Lucy asked, suspicious.

"Gonna join Fairy Tail! Makarov said it's the least we could do."

Lucy's cheeks burned. This was _not_ how she wanted to join Fairy Tail. Out of pity? Her mother would be ashamed to see her now. Maybe she should just grab the chance while she could.

Or should she? Maybe she could use this to her advantage...

"I want to go on a mission first! To prove myself!" Lucy declared.

Why was there such a big silence after she said that? Lucy was not _that_ weak-looking... was she?

"By yourself?" Mirajane finally said. "No, no- it's too dangerous, Lucy. You might hurt yourself when you aren't even in the guild." Seeing Lucy's hurt look, she quickly added, " _Yet_."

Gray laughed. "Heh-heh... she can be teamed with flame brain over here. I heard there's a medium level quest to find these magic crystals under the sea. Makarov will have to approve it, though."

"I'll make sure he does!" Natsu leapt up and grabbed Lucy's hand. "Come on, Luce!"

"Wait..." Lucy hesitated, and then let herself get dragged away. "I didn't mean that kind of mission..." Another mess? And she'd put herself in it? When would Lucy's life ever get back to normal?

Mirajane watched them with a sad look. Lisanna would be heartbroken...

* * *

 **Heehee! I love torturing Lisanna... I know, I know! I'm sorry, Mirajane! *gets hit in the head repeatedly* Okay, okay, I'll** _ **try**_ **to be nicer in the next chapter...**

 **So far, Gray-sama (oh, hello, Juvia!) is my spirit animal. We both have the same OTP! Heehee... he's a real man! I've said enough, I can hear Juvia saying,** _ **rival, rival**_ **... *hides in a hole* :0) And next chapter the action will come,** _ **winkity wink**_ **! Many kisses to you!**


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